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Victoria's Promise to Winchester

After Victoria van der Westhuizen lost her father and grandmother to cancer, watched her mother battle through cancer to eventually defeat it and then was diagnosed with cancer herself, she promised to help others in their fight against the disease. She even vowed to use her own experiences to inspire and support them. Unfortunately, Victoria lost her battle to cancer, aged 29, but her family upheld her vow by launching the charity Victoria’s Promise.

Victoria’s Promise offers young women with cancer one-to-one tailored, specialist care to increase their chance of survival and quality of life. The charity predominantly works in the South of England and women at Basingstoke North Hampshire Hospital have already benefited from the services the charity provides. But, to increase the care the charity offers, it has started the VP2W fundraising campaign on MyDonate, to raise enough money to launch support programmes for women at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.

The fundraising target is £100,000 and it has organised a broad range of fundraising events – from family fun days to an annual charity ball. However, it also has a large number of fundraisers who set up their own pages to raise money for their own challenges for the charity.

“The flexibility MyDonate offers ensures all the separate fundraising events can each have their own page, but all money raised collectively goes to Victoria’s Promise,” said Alex Eastman, co-founder and trustee, Victoria’s Promise.

“And every penny counts,” continued Alex. “It’s important to meet an individual’s specific needs, because this can make a huge difference to well-being and recovery. Reducing the stress and emotional strains of those with cancer is essential. We provide a range of specialist services including oncology massages to sooth pain and relieve anxiety and beauticians provide skin care services, make-overs and tutorials. We also fund high quality and breathable wigs for those who need them, or chose to have them, and our domestic concierge service helps our VIPs keep a clean and tidy home whilst also offering child care for the times when women may have cover to attend a chemotherapy session.”

Alex went on to explain why he felt MyDonate was the perfect fundraising platform. “We reviewed many options before choosing this platform. Not only did it offer us the flexibility we needed but we know that the additional money we’ve got from not paying commission has had a very positive impact on what we can offer. For example, every £30 we save enables us to provide extra counselling to those who need it, when they need it. And this means we are fulfilling Victoria’s legacy and delivering on her promise of really supporting women who are struggling with cancer.”